A former air traffic controller accused of planting homemade bombs in March outside the Grand Junction homes of four former co-workers and a Federal Aviation Administration official pleaded guilty today to a single count that could land him in prison for 20 years.
Robert Burke, 54, who was arrested in Utah in April, was indicted May 2 by a federal grand jury on a host of charges.
Instead, he agreed to plead guilty to a charge of malicious damage to a building used in interstate commerce.
U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn said the charge is punishable by five to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Prosecutors said they will recommended a term of 10 years when Burke is sentenced on Feb. 2.
That isn’t long enough for Steve and Cathy Sherwood, who found one of Burke’s bombs next to a bush. Crews defused that bomb, but Steve Sherwood said he believed it could have ignited the bush and burned their house.
“In 10 years, he’ll still be young enough to carry a grudge,” said Steve Sherwood, an FAA employee who ran technical operations at the control tower at Grand Junction’s airport. “We’re concerned – so much so that we’re moving. … We lived in that house for 12 years and now, it’s just different.” He said he never had any disagreements with Burke, but declined to comment on why he may have been targeted.
Nobody was injured and only minor property damage was reported in Grand Junction after three of the bombs exploded. Two others were defused.
Burke had worked for Serco Group PLC, a British company that staffs air traffic control towers at airports in Grand Junction and 55 other locations. He was fired in 2004 after working for Serco for four years.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has said the Grand Junction bombs were similar to a device that exploded at Serco offices in Murfreesboro, Tenn., in February. It also was similar to a device that caused a fire at a home in Derby, Kan., that belonged to a couple who tried to sell a used ambulance to Burke. An arrest affidavit said Burke sent the couple a threatening e-mail.
Under the plea agreement, the government will not file charges in Kansas or Tennessee.
An arrest affidavit said the Grand Junction homes targeted by Burke all belonged to people who had provided information Serco considered in determining whether to fire him.
It said several former co-workers had reported Burke made numerous threatening statements, at one point telling a man that he owned two .357-caliber Magnum guns to “increase his killing power.”
